China is monitoring employees' brain waves and emotions — and the technology boosted one company's profits by $315 million

Chinese businesses and the military are monitoring
employees' brain activity and emotions.

The "emotional surveillance technology" helps employers
identify mood shifts so they can change break times, an
employee's task, or even send them home.

The technology reportedly increases productivity and
profitability, with one company claiming its profits jumped by
$315 million.

Emotional surveillance adds to a wide surveillance
network of facial recognition and internet censorship across
China.

Employees' brain waves are reportedly being monitored in
factories, state-owned enterprises, and the military across
China.

The technology works by placing wireless sensors in employees'
caps or hats which, combined with artificial intelligence
algorithms, spot incidents of workplace rage, anxiety, or
sadness.

Employers use this "emotional surveillance technology" by then
tweaking workflows, including employee placement and breaks, to
increase productivity and profits.

At State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power in the southeast city of
Hangzhou, company profits jumped by $315 million since the
technology was introduced in 2014, an official told the
South China Morning Post.

Cheng Jingzhou, the official who oversees the company's program,
said "there is no doubt about its effect," and brain data helps
the 40,000-strong firm work to higher standards.

According to the SCMP, more than a dozen businesses and China's
military have used a different programme developed by the
government-funded brain surveillance project Neuro Cap, based out
of Ningbo University.

"They thought we could read their mind. This caused some
discomfort and resistance in the beginning," Jin Jia, a professor
of brain science at Ningbo University told the Post.

"After a while they got used to the device... They wore it all
day at work."

Jin also said that employees' brainwaves can be enough for
managers to send them home.

"When the system issues a warning, the manager asks the worker to
take a day off or move to a less critical post. Some jobs require
high concentration. There is no room for a mistake."

Another type of sensor, built by technology company Deayea, is
reportedly used in the caps of train drivers on the high-speed
rail line between Beijing and Shanghai. The sensor can even
trigger an alarm if a driver falls asleep.